Leading ChangeKotter’s 8-Stage Process

Dr. Michael Hoffman8/7/2014

Leading Change

Leading Change

• Change can be very difficult– Complacency– Resistance– Communication (lack thereof)– Sustainability

• Change isn’t necessarily good or bad, it just is

Leading Change

• Step 1 – Establish a Sense of Urgency– Leverage a crisis– Use market data• Compare yourself to competition

– “Create” a crisis• Set very high goals

– Eliminate examples of excess– Stop the “happy talk”

Leading Change

• Step 2 – Create a Guiding Coalition– Why?• Because it’s difficult, if not impossible, for one leader

to implement a major change initiative without help

– Who?• The right people, with the right skills, and the right

amount of trust– Position power – is important– Leadership ability– Credibility – if they help champion the change initiative, will

people listen?

Leading Change

– How?• Define a charge, or charter, for the coalition

– Clear task(s)– Clear boundaries

» What’s off the table?– Clear authority

• Create a reinforcing framework– Reward the team, not the individuals on the team– People, and teams, respond to incentives

• Cascading sponsorship– Ensure that there are reinforcing sponsors all of the way

down the organization’s hierarchy

Leading Change

• Step 3 – Develop a Change Vision– Why?• Simplifies numerous more detailed decisions

– Helps to empower people

• Motivates action in the direction required by the change initiative– Vision can help trump short-term interests

• Helps to coordinate the efforts of large numbers of people in an efficient way– Not sure if your action is in support of the change initiative?

Ask yourself, is it in line with the change vision?» Can always go back to the vision

Leading Change

• The Change Vision should be:– Imaginable: They convey a clear picture of what the future will

look like.– Desirable: They appeal to the long-term interest of those who

have a stake in the enterprise.– Feasible: They contain realistic and attainable goals.– Focused: They are clear enough to provide guidance in decision

making.– Flexible: They allow individual initiative and alternative

responses in light of changing conditions.– Communicable: They are easy to communicate and can be

explained quickly.

Leading Change

• Sample Change Vision

"We want to reduce our costs by 30 percent and increase the speed with which we respond to customers by 40 percent. When this is completed, in approximately three years, we will have ... better satisfied customers, increased revenue growth, more job security, and the enormous pride that comes from great accomplishment."

Leading Change

• Step 4 – Communicate the Change Vision– Communication is vitally important, particularly

during a major change initiative• Best to error on the side of too much communication

than too little• Often the most overlooked step• Necessary to communicate the change vision, or it is

essentially worthless

Leading Change

• Communication – Key Elements– Simplicity– Use of Examples/Analogies– Multiple Forms– Repetition– Leadership by Example– Explanation of Real or Perceived Inconsistencies– Bi-Directional (don’t forget to listen)

Leading Change

• Step 5 – Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action– Major organizational change typically requires effort

from many people– Remove barriers• Structural• Training• Systems (compensation, etc.)• Hierarchy

– Supervisors

– Are they salvageable?

Leading Change

• Step 6 – Create Short-Term Wins– Help to build momentum– Reward change agents with evidence of success– Provide evidence that the sacrifices made for the

change effort are worth it– Help to fine-tune change vision and strategies– Undermine change resistors – Help convince the highest-levels of the

organizational hierarchy that the change effort is succeeding

Leading Change

How are short-term wins achieved?• They are planned for

Is one short-term win enough?• Probably not• Plan for multiple short-term wins, spaced apart to

reinforce change momentum

Are they real, or gimmicks?• They are genuine

Leading Change

• Step 7 – Consolidate Gains & Produce More Change– Characteristics of a Successful Change Effort• As interdependencies increase, change becomes more

difficult– Additional people are leveraged to help with the change– Short-term wins are leveraged for more change– Unnecessary interdependencies are eliminated– Senior management leads and coordinates the effort– Lower-level managers lead specific change projects

Leading Change

• Step 8 – Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture– Culture is powerful• Is present and felt through the actions of large numbers

of people• Individuals are indoctrinated into the culture easily and

effectively• Is often adopted by individuals without conscious intent

Leading Change

• Change organizational culture last, not first– Culture is created over years, changing it may take just as long

• Results, results, results– Change initiatives and new approaches must be shown to

work in order to change the culture• Talk

– Reinforce changes in culture with verbal instruction and support

• Turnover– Sometimes turnover in key positions is the only way to truly

change the culture